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Post by navy4422 on Sept 18, 2012 15:51:56 GMT -5
I am planning on doing an auto rack train but I have some questions,
The engines leading the train will be a Kato SD70-MAC CSX#713 (Sound) and an Athearn SD-50 CSX#8583(DCC), I currently have 1 auto rack that I bought preweathered on ebay as a model for my own weathering.
1)How long should the train be (My thought was the two engines and 25 auto racks)?
2) Any good places to get auto racks in this high of a quantity for like $30 a piece?
3) I'm not planning on doing graffiti (for awhile at least) so just rust/grime Should I hand paint or air brush?
I'll post pictures of the current auto rack and the engines (both engines need weathered and the sd-50 needs railings) soon (Tomorrow if I have time)so you can see the starting point.
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Post by John on Sept 18, 2012 15:59:23 GMT -5
Ebay will be your best bet, watch for job lots, I have an eighteen car autorack train made up of walthers (a mixture of gold line and kits) average price around eight pounds each. The new super detailed (blma?) Models will no doubt lead to a massive sell off as folks ditch their walthers kits. Bide your time and prepare to swoop on the bargains!
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Post by navy4422 on Sept 18, 2012 16:05:25 GMT -5
8 pounds should be around 13 USD thats crazy the cheapest I see is like 20USD but I did see that it was coming out in october for intermountain so I'll try and wait but maybe a train show may have some I can haggle down
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mgwsy
Road Foreman
Posts: 86
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Post by mgwsy on Sept 18, 2012 16:14:09 GMT -5
I know the Dealer cost for the Intermountain cars will be around $42 so dont expect to get them under $45 - $50 . I have a bunch of Walthers cars and they are fine for a decent rack train.
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Post by navy4422 on Sept 18, 2012 17:25:17 GMT -5
After weathering the walthers should look great for me ( I actually don't want the intermountain's as you can see throught them a bit and that would make the emptyness known)
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Post by antlorch on Sept 18, 2012 17:46:10 GMT -5
Well on the UP the auto trains I have had usually have one SD70M with 75 racks. If we are lucky sometimes we get two engines. These trains out of Houston are empty and headed to Mexico to get filled up. Rack trains loaded out of Mexico always have at least two engines on them.
So for modeling a rack train those two engines would do just fine especially if you are representing a loaded train, if you want to run it as an empty the 70MAC should do fine by itself. Now I don't have any racks myself so I am not sure how much they weight. Of course the more you run the more it weights fo the more engines you will need.
On the weathering you can use an airbrush, chalks, and washes. Or use any combo of the three to get the desired effect your looking for.
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Post by navy4422 on Sept 18, 2012 18:06:45 GMT -5
Yeah the csx line infront of my house usually has around 50 to 100 with 1 or 2 locos but 75 auto racks is out of my budget and too long for my clubs layout,
Thanks for the weathering information, I was thinking chalk or powder to dull the car, rust and some grime airbrushed on
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Post by Wayne Snyder on Sept 18, 2012 23:26:17 GMT -5
I have 6 - 10 if you are interisted. I have some of the modern Atlas and Athearn sets plus a coupe of the Walthers.
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Post by John on Sept 19, 2012 8:12:23 GMT -5
8 pounds should be around 13 USD that's crazy! That's the beauty of buying job lots, you get a good price . Most of my autoracks are the older kit ones, but once rewheeled and weathered they make an impressive train, I put my goldline models at either end and the effect is as if the whole train is goldline
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Post by navy4422 on Sept 19, 2012 8:26:51 GMT -5
I think id like doing kits due to cost and I get to know the car a bit better but I have 18 tichy kits to do (4 are assembled and ready for paint (waiting on my airbrush to come in) and one is done with a test paint coat on it to see if I liked the colors plus I have to put the loads on them (WW2 planes/ supplies) and 14 hopper kits (already painted) as well, so I'm not sure how long it will take, at my current rate i can knock out 3 or 4 tichy kits a week and the hoppers should take no time at all so like a month before the autoracks could even be started. That would be my only issue with kits.
Also I noticed you said rewheeled, I assume you replaced the 33" with 28"?
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Post by navy4422 on Sept 19, 2012 15:54:15 GMT -5
Oh okay I know I read that the custom rail kits stood higher than the Walthers and the fix was to change to the smaller wheels but I can see your point about metal wheels
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Post by ladderpipe on Sept 19, 2012 20:11:29 GMT -5
A long train of racks looks pretty cool. I'll never forget when Walthers first introduced them. I mowed a lot of extra yards that summer and amassed quite a few of them. As one would assume, they sure do take up a lot of real estate!
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Post by ladderpipe on Sept 19, 2012 20:19:15 GMT -5
And antlorch, can you shead some light on the one unit wonders? That's putting a lot of faith that one unit can get them over the road. I guess they are pretty light when empty and aren't considered "priority" but why wouldn't they tack an extra motor on (even if it's dead in tow) in case something happened? I guess tying one engine up on the faint possibility that something may happen to the primary locomotive doesn't make much financial sense but I sure would like that "extra security" so I'm not stuck in the middle of nowhere waiting for someone to bring me another loco.
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Post by antlorch on Sept 19, 2012 20:28:28 GMT -5
And that is exactly what it is all about. All the railroads do this I am sure. Why waste an extra engine, if it isn't pulling freight it ain't making money. Plain and simple. I like the added security of an extra engine but they think if your one engine dies you can get another from another passing train or get another to push or pull your train into a siding and out of the way until they can get another engine to your train.
I had a stack train out of Houston that was short on power, the first 80 miles is flat but after that it's all ups and downs. So we put the train in a siding and it took two more days to get two more engines to the train so it could proceed west.
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mgwsy
Road Foreman
Posts: 86
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Post by mgwsy on Sept 19, 2012 20:29:53 GMT -5
And antlorch, can you shead some light on the one unit wonders? That's putting a lot of faith that one unit can get them over the road. I guess they are pretty light when empty and aren't considered "priority" but why wouldn't they tack an extra motor on (even if it's dead in tow) in case something happened? I guess tying one engine up on the faint possibility that something may happen to the primary locomotive doesn't make much financial sense but I sure would like that "extra security" so I'm not stuck in the middle of nowhere waiting for someone to bring me another loco. Most railroads base locos for trains on total tonnage so if a certain unit has so much horspower which is good for X amount of tons then they give you what you need for the weight of the train plus the line your on and rarely do you get any extra power. I remember switching out a industrial park and shoving back to the yard for 8 miles with 68 cars and 1 GP38. Lets just say I was surprised the unit didnt blow up, LOL. When I cleared in the yard and told the dispatcher how many cars I had he had me repeat it two more times as he was shocked I had that many.
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Post by navy4422 on Sept 19, 2012 21:49:21 GMT -5
Well I did some research at my club today and found 10 to be the number of autoracks in a standard train length, so i will run 10 for op sessions and 25 outside of that
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georgiaroad
Chairman
Purveryor of all things of the prototype freelance GEORGIA ROAD
Posts: 250
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Post by georgiaroad on Sept 20, 2012 1:45:56 GMT -5
This is prototype info... I work for a KIA supplier at KIA Motors Manufacturing Georgia in West Point, GA and live nearby. KIA is presently assembling Santa Fe, Sorento and Optima cars. They get a mix of Bi and Tri level 89ft cars with an odd articulated type car or two in each train. KIA has its own in-house switching that moves cars from the loading pad to the storage tracks a half mile below on the CSX main, accessed by a switchback. CSX runs two locomotives per outbound loaded train (C40-8/SD50-3/SD40-3/ CW40-8/D9-C44 in any combination--seem to favor DC units). Trains used to be 65 cars loaded, but since KIA bumped production trains are average 85 cars per train. They run at least once in 24hrs, which includes an empty inbound which then takes out the loaded train. Here is a link to a photo essay on the construction and even a map of the rail operations. www.rrpicturearchives.net/archiveThumbs.aspx?id=39526From a modeling aspect, it would be easy. If you see the pictures on the last two pages, you will see the interchange consists of two very long sidings adjacent to the CSX Gabbetville passing siding. The lead turns off into the trees. You cannot even see KIA from the interchange. Both leads into the two track storage yard are remote control, signal governed and protected by switch type split rail derails, also remote control via CTC by CSX dispatcher. In recent months, CSX has been delivering coil cars also. This is the only rail traffic. Everything else is container from Savannah or Mobile and 53' trucks moving between suppliers. sequencers and the KIA Main Assembly. You could model the whole interchange in less than two foot deep by 15-20ft shelf if you use the lead as a hidden sneak off for the switcher. The size of the train is dictated by your passing siding length, I would figure. I plan to have some 20-25 plus foot sidings so I can run longer trains. Make sure your staging track is considered too. If it cannot clear staging, it is too long. Hope this helps...
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mgwsy
Road Foreman
Posts: 86
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Post by mgwsy on Sept 20, 2012 6:25:28 GMT -5
This is prototype info... They get a mix of Bi and Tri level 89ft cars with an odd articulated type car or two in each train. Atlas makes the Articulated racks in HO and N. www.atlasrr.com/HOFreight/hoartauto2.htm
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Post by navy4422 on Sept 20, 2012 8:47:19 GMT -5
Thanks for all the information, yeah there was a GM plant close to my house that shut down so I couldn't see all the operations but as for adding to the club we are pretty full (though we have an un used refinery, I might be able to convert). If I do decide to change it then I will definitely use that info. I have seen the articulated one for sale but not one the line around me, also they just look bad to me. I think near me now is a Subaru plant maybe they have some rail ops I'll have to check
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Post by navy4422 on Sept 20, 2012 8:56:00 GMT -5
I would say so I dont have close to this much room but I have some ideas
Edit I checked and my ideas may work I think I could do 4 loading rails for 3 cars a piece and be able to store cars for a ready train and since train length is 10 cars (pushing it really should be 9 but I like even numbers) I have room to modify and place the switches in the right place I think this may work very well. I have approval from everyone in the club that I have asked ;D
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